Still Raining.  Still Shooting.

Rain, Rain and more Rain, but photography goes on. (just a little soggy)

Beautiful little harbor on the central coast of Maine.

Mary and I are taking an 18 day mega-road trip through New England that we have been talking about for years.  The impetus for this trip is a 4 day photography workshop in Jackson New Hampshire (Mt. Washington) that I will be taking with Moose Peterson, Joe McNally , Laurie Excell and Kevin Dobler.

Sooooo, since we were gonna be in the neighborhood anyway, why not hit ALL of New England, after all its fall foliage season right?  So that’s how the little 4 day workshop has grown and evolved into the mega-road trip that starts in northern Maine and ends in State College, PA (where our daughter happens to be attending my alma mater, Penn State and it also happens to be Homecoming weekend). All very neat and tidy don’t you think.

We will be exploring coastal Maine, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont, the Adirondack region of upstate New York, the Finger Lakes region of central NY and central PA, all during the most beautiful time of the year!

One of my goals for this trip, besides having a great time with my wife, seeing some interesting and beautiful places and doing tons and tons of photography, is to blog and facebook DAILY about the trip and the workshop and come up with at least one “Photo the Day” and maybe even some commentary.

Stay tuned

It’s been a few weeks since my California trip and the Yosemite photography workshop with Steven Johnson.  I wanted to wait a bit to better reflect on what I learned and what were the lasting impressions left by the experience. (Plus I’ve been really busy in my other life, it’s almost mosquito season!)

The overall experience was simply great.  Like I said in an earlier post, I had never been to Yosemite before and I consider it to be one of the most concentrated location of spectacular scenery on the planet, and obviously a photographers paradise.  I’ve read that you could spend a lifetime photographing in Yosemite and never do it justice.  Absolutely true.

The workshop was three days of classroom lectures by Steven, on location “shoots” and critique sessions with group input and discussion. This was a small group, only 5 students.  Steven is an excellent teacher with decades of experience and it shows in his teaching and his photography.  I was a little surprised that I knew much of what was covered in the lectures but still managed to glean a few key bits of info and helpful tips.  The lectures covered raw workflow and processing, color management and some photoshop technique.  The other workshop that I attended a few years ago (DLWS/Moose Peterson) had significantly more classroom time and photoshop instruction. I feel I learned the most and gained the most confidence during field shooting and particularly the photo critique sessions not only of my photos but the images of the other participants as well.  The group discussion was worthwhile in that you not only had the opportunity to hear from Steven but others with different experience and views. Good stuff.

After the first day of gawking at the valley and taking “tourist” shots of the icons (El Cap, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Falls) I was able to settle down and concentrate on my own vision of Yosemite and simplify.  I was much happier with the images I captured on the 2nd and third day of the workshop and even more so on the day I spent shooting on my own after the workshop was over. I always feel I do my best work when I’m in the “zone”, usually by myself and able to fully concentrate on just “seeing” and capturing what I see.  It’s tough to do that in a workshop situation.

I really liked all of the other participants and instantly made friends. They were all great photographers with a myriad of life and photographic experience. A couple have active websites and blogs.  Here are the links I encourage you to take a look.

Harry Sandler:  http://hsandler.blogspot.com/
Natasha Calzatti: http://www.calzattifoto.com/CalzattiFoto.htm

Overall an awesome experience and I can’t wait to go back to Yosemite, hopefully in the fall with better backcountry access.  There is a lot to tell and share if anyone has any questions please write me a note at mike@mmpropoto.com

M

Those of you who know me, know that I can get a bit obsessive when it come to getting prepared for trips, events, etc.  Of course this Yosemite workshop was no different and probably a little worse than usual. A photography workshop is more than a vacation that concentrates on taking pictures.  There is classroom time, field trips to shoot, critiques of the work, digital darkroom processing and on and on.  So you need to be prepared and on top of knowing your gear, your laptop and your processing software. Before you go everything needs to cleaned, checked out  and in good working order.

I thought it might be interesting (or at least helpful) to briefly  go through some of my preparations.

Computer & Back-up

• Make sure operating system, software and software plug-ins are updated with current versions and operating properly.
• Run maintenance and cleaning utilities to assure efficient operation.
• Clean and defrag external back-up drives.

Photo Gear

• Properly clean camera body, lenses and filters.
• Test sensor for dust spots, clean if needed. (Visible Dust products are awesome)
• Empty and format (in camera) CF/SD data storage cards.
• Clean and check tripod/ballhead
• Make a checklist of all required gear and repack your gear bag according to the list.

To get myself ready I read and re-read a few of my favorite books.

• Digital Photography, by Steven Johnson (workshop leader) www.sjphoto.com
• Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Book, Volumes 1-2 and 3 by Scott Kelby  www.scottkelby.com
• (Photoshop) Layers by Matt Kloskowski of Lightroom Killer Tips www.lightroomkillertips.com

I also reviewed  several video tutorials on lynda.com. If you are not familiar with lynda.com please do yourself a favor and go take a look. They have extensive, very well done and inexpensive video tutorials on just about every software title on the planet.  They are especially strong in graphic arts and their tutorials on Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture and InDesign are excellent.

Next blog I’ll talk about the Yosemite Workshop.  Stay tuned.

M

It seems like every other day Adobe Photoshop is in the news or fodder for a Jay Leno stand-up joke or two.  (i.e. OJ is made to look more evil, some supermodel is made thinner, an actor is made to look younger and on and on)  Photoshop certainly gets a bad rap. But, like many other things in our modern age it’s not the tool that’s the problem but the person using it and their intent.  Sure photographs can be changed, manipulated and be made to deceive; nothing new there.  From the very beginning photographs have been manipulated by the photographer, the tools have just gotten better. Darkroom techniques like dodging and burning, light filtering, and chemistry were all used by early photographers to add contrast, highlight the subject or help the viewer to better see what the photographer was trying to show.  Whether good or bad, photo manipulation is a modern fact of life.  You should assume that every photograph you see has been manipulated in some way.

The use of Photoshop in advertising, lifestyle and glamor magazines, and television is ubiquitous.  Again, you should assume that every single photo has been manipulated.  The problem is when photos that appear in documentary or journalistic uses are manipulated.  Those are the areas that photos should not be changed.  We expect to see the truth.

What about fine art photography? Here again Photoshop is just another tool in the artist palette. My take is that I always try to get the image “right” in the camera. But some things you just can’t change or foresee in the field.  You do your best but there is always a little tweak here or there that can improve the image.  Visit any gallery or art museum; Art is art and anything goes.  My images are simply there to be enjoyed. Many are manipulated in some minor way, others a little more.  What follows is an example; a before and after view of a photo that I “cleaned-up” in Photoshop. I did the best I could in the field, but the wires and light poles were unavoidable.  You be the judge; evil deception or just an improved image?

Before (click for larger image)

After (click for larger image)